


why did I write this

by Havoka



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: F/F, M/M, Multi, big gay valentines day extravaganza
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2016-02-14
Packaged: 2018-05-20 10:49:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6003001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Havoka/pseuds/Havoka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Josh is a big gay cherub with lots of love arrows and too much time on his hands.</p>
            </blockquote>





	why did I write this

It was the greatest idea ever. This little human friend group was absolutely _brimming_ with possibilities for both love and mischief.

Josh first tracked two of them to their school library. Two girls, one looking nervous and the other looking bored. Bored girl had a book open and was reading it aloud to nervous girl, who was furiously scribbling in a notebook.

As a cherub, he couldn’t be seen by humans. So he leaned against their table and simply watched them for a few minutes. There was a degree of tension in the air between them. He sensed that these two had an…interesting dynamic.

Whistling to himself, Josh slipped a feathery red arrow from his quiver. He twirled it around between his fingers, then stuck it right between the nervous girl’s shoulder blades. She tensed a bit. The arrow quickly disintegrated, leaving only a faint pink glow in its wake. Grinning, Josh watched and waited.

* * *

 “So in an ionic chemical bond electrons are transferred between atoms, while in a covalent bond electrons are shared by the outer shells of the atoms.” Emily’s palm was propping her chin up, probably keeping her from faceplanting into the textbook before her. Ashley knew she was boring the hell out of Emily. Em had passed Chemistry last year with flying colors. The only reason she’d agreed to help Ashley study was because Ash had offered to give her some writing tips afterward. Essay-writing was Emily’s weakest academic suit (though for Emily “weak” was quite subjective), so as the winner of last year’s city-wide essay contest Ashley had a _slight_ advantage over Emily in that field. She knew Emily wanted in on it.

Ashley hurried to copy down Emily’s words. Writing things down always helped her remember. “Okay, got it.”

“Good.” Emily examined her perfectly-painted fingernails. “You know, this is really easy. Nothing to get all worked up about.”

Ashley felt a tingle in her back. She stretched and flexed a little. “I know. I appreciate you helping me, I really–”

She looked up from her notebook and found her throat suddenly too dry to form any sounds. Even just in a casual situation like this, Emily was distractingly stunning. She’d run her fingers through her hair a few minutes ago, leaving it elegantly disheveled, and even after a long school day her makeup was perfect. Her lip gloss brought a little shine to her lips, drawing Ashley’s thoughts to how soft they probably were…how…kissable…

Ashley shook her head. She was no stranger to odd thoughts like that – hey, she _was_ a romantic at heart – but they weren’t usually so pervasive. She pushed the thoughts out of her head long enough to form a coherent sentence.

“I really do appreciate it, God you have pretty eyes.” The words cascaded from her mouth with no control or reservation. Her hand clamped over it immediately, as if trying to prevent the escape of thoughts that had already been released.

Emily blinked. “Um, thank you?” Rendering Emily speechless was no easy feat – she wasn’t quite there, but seeing as she didn’t respond with a witty comeback or sarcastic quip off the cuff, she was definitely close.

Ashley could feel her face turning red-hot. “Y-you’re welcome,” she stammered, desperate to maintain some semblance of a normal social exchange. Unfortunately she could not think of a single other thing to say. This resulted in her staring awkwardly at Emily for what felt like a lifetime.

Emily slowly closed the textbook. “So, uh, maybe we should call it a day. You can always give me those writing tips another time…”

“Did I weird you out?” Ashley blurted. “I’m sorry, God, I’m so–”

“Ash, it’s all right. Just forget it.” Emily slid Ashley her textbook and picked up her bag. “I have to go, anyway.”

Ashley watched Em rather hurriedly depart. As soon as she was gone Ashley buried her face in her hands. What the hell had possessed her to vocalize those awful thoughts of hers? Now Emily probably thought she was a total creep. Hell, she probably _was_ a total creep.

She needed to do something. But she had no idea what.

* * *

 Well _that_ hadn’t gone quite as he’d expected. Josh clicked his tongue as he walked away from the red-haired girl, who was now all alone.

If he wanted to see results, he’d have to pick someone more confident. Less awkward.

He decided to follow the dark-haired girl. She seemed a bit surer of herself.

* * *

  _That was weird._ Emily headed to her locker to put away her books until the next morning. Ashley had always been a bit of an oddball, but she wasn’t usually so forthright about it. It had almost seemed like she was _flirting_ with her or something.

The locker next to hers popped open. Sam greeted her with a warm smile, hefting her textbooks into it. Emily casually greeted her in turn.

* * *

 Josh wasn’t like most cherubs. He had a rather bizarre taste in matchmaking. He knew he’d just made that red-haired human fall for this dark-haired one, but what fun was there in reciprocal attraction?

Another player had just entered his game. He readied a magic arrow, then planted it softly in the dark-haired girl’s back.

* * *

 Emily startled as something poked her in the back. “What?” She turned to face Sam, who was beginning to walk away from the lockers.

“Hm?” Sam paused. Her deep hazel eyes searched Emily’s for a moment. She tucked a lock of hair behind one ear.

“You…tapped me.” Emily felt her face flush a little. Hadn’t Sam touched her? Why was she suddenly getting so flustered at that thought?

“No I didn’t.” Sam frowned, but her eyes still shone with warmth. “Why, did you want to tell me something?”

“What? No. No. Forget I said anything.”

Sam’s frown shifted back into a small smile. “Well anyway, I’m heading to the gym for a little while. Don’t suppose you want to come with me?”

Even though Emily was as much a gym rat as Sam, she never liked to go with friends – it was just an unnecessary distraction. But for some reason an opportunity to tag along with Sam, to watch her work those perfect sculpted muscles of hers, sweeping her hair off her neck, slicked with just the slightest layer of hot sweat…

Emily stopped. _What the hell?_ Since when did she have thoughts like that? She wasn’t into Sam. She wasn’t even gay or anything.

…Experimenting with Jessica in their younger years didn’t count.

“Sure, I’ll go,” she found herself saying.

Sam seemed a bit surprised. “Really? Okay, awesome! It’ll be nice to have some company.”

Emily shut her locker, following at Sam’s heels as they left the school.

* * *

 Girls were fun, but for Josh the _most_ fun was toying with the boys.  He may or may not have had a vested interest in such romantic endeavors. And he loved the way they reacted to their newly-surfaced feelings.

It didn’t take long for him to come across two perfect targets.

* * *

 “Nah dude, no way.” Matt tried not to laugh as Mike attempted to pick up a 50-pound barbell. Mike may have been a smooth talker, but you couldn’t talk your way through heavy lifting. This was all Matt’s domain. “You’re gonna hurt yourself.”

“Shut up, man. This…is…easy.” Mike strained to even lift it off the bench. It didn’t want to budge.

Matt felt an odd tingle in his back. He cracked it. “Dude, I’m gettin’ stiff just standing here. Let me get on with it already.”

“Nah, come on. I can handle this.” Despite his straining, he still managed to wear that easygoing smile of his. Matt shook his head. A moment later he slipped his hands over Mike’s on the barbell and lifted it without trouble, taking Mike’s hands with him.

“Damn.” Mike watched his own arms go up and down as Matt hefted the weight with little effort.

“Yeah, you can totally handle it, as long as I’m doing most of the work.” Now it was Matt’s turn to smile.

“Well hey, I’m not made of muscle like you.” Despite his tone, Matt knew Mike wasn’t truly bothered by it. He was always laid-back about this sort of thing – he knew Matt was stronger than him, so he could take a joke about it.

As much as Matt hated to admit it, he could see why all the girls loved Mike so much. He had that cocky kind of appeal. You wanted to hit him sometimes, but in an almost endearing sort of way.

Mike took his hands off the barbell and rubbed his back. “Ugh, I feel like I pulled a muscle trying to lift that thing.”

Matt set the barbell back down on the weight bench. “You okay?”

“Oh…yeah. I’ll be fine.” Mike stretched his lean, lithe body. “…Eventually.”

“I might be able to help.” Matt grabbed Mike and turned him around. He pushed one elbow into Mike’s spine, holding him in place with his other arm, and kept pressing until he heard a crack.

“Jesus, what was that?”

“I cracked it. Does it feel better?”

Mike twisted around a little. “Huh. Yeah, it does.”

Matt lingered his hold on Mike. It was strange – he felt kind of like holding a girl, but not quite. He was bigger and a little denser. More substantial. Matt didn’t feel like he would crush Mike in his strong grip.

“Um, dude, you can let go of me now.”

“Oh. Sorry.” Matt released him with a small, nervous laugh.

* * *

 Josh crossed his arms. Apparently one arrow each wasn’t gonna work on these guys, at least not quickly enough for his liking. He needed more firepower.

He pulled a small, round container from his pocket. Twisting it open, he coughed as a puff of pink smoke rose from it. Then he scooped out a handful of sparkling pink dust. With a devilish grin, he sprinkled the whole handful over both boys.

* * *

 “You… _sure_ you want to carry it?” Sam quirked an eyebrow as Emily struggled with Sam’s oversized gym bag.

“Oh yeah, yeah, it’s no problem.” Emily nodded enthusiastically, lugging it with visible effort. Despite her strain, her eyes were positively sparkling. Sam had never seen her so eager to help someone else before.

She’d decided to warm up with some light weightlifting. She instructed Emily to set the bag down over by the weight bench. As Em dragged it over, Sam spotted a familiar face by the overheads.

“Jessica?”

Jess perked up, tearing her eyes off a few gym patrons she’d apparently been observing. “Oh, hi Sam!” She gave her a quick once-over. “Lookin’ good.”

Sam smiled. “Thanks. I didn’t know you had a gym membership.”

Jess stretched. “Yeah, they wouldn’t let me hang out here if I didn’t. Trust me, I tried.”

She seemed quite comfortable where she was sitting. “So do you work out, or…?”

Jess giggled. “Not really. I just like, y’know, the atmosphere.”

A couple of buff dudes in gym shorts lumbered by. Jessica’s eyes followed them, her lips curling into a tiny, satisfied grin.

“Wait, you pay for a membership just so you can leer at people?” Sam shook her head. “That’s kinda creepy, Jess.”

“Nah. It’d be creepy if I was a guy. For a girl it’s _empowering._ Just ask Emily.”

“All right…sure.”

“Speaking of, I see she’s your pack mule for the day.” Jess glanced over at Emily, who was wiping the sweat from her brow after dropping Sam’s bag onto the nearest bench. “How the heck did you finagle that?”

“Honestly? I have no idea.” Sam rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “She volunteered.”

“What! Em never carries _my_ stuff.” Jessica huffed. “She must like you or something.”

“Well I would hope so. I mean, we’re friends.”

“That’s _not_ what I meant.” Jess wrinkled her nose. “Well, anyway, she’s waiting for you. You should probably get back to her before she gets mad.”

“Ah, yeah, you’re right.” Sam tried to ignore what Jessica seemed to be implying. “I’ll see you in a bit, then.”

She felt Jessica’s stare on her back as she walked away.

* * *

 “Just _had_ to go talk to Jessica, huh?” Emily tried to temper her voice, but jealousy seethed from her words. _She_ wanted to be the focus of Sam’s attention. She had no time for her skanky best friend today.

“Um, I just wanted to say hi to her? Typically friends greet each other when they bump into each other in public.” Sam picked up a light dumbbell and lifted it slowly, warming up her muscles. Emily watched with great intent as they rippled beneath the surface of Sam’s toned flesh. A strange heat surged through her, warming Em in places where watching her female friend work out probably shouldn’t have warmed her. She crossed her legs and tried to take her mind off it.

She decided to steal a glance over at Jessica. Jess was swinging her legs idly, watching a lady about as muscular as Sam do chin-ups.  Emily had never understood the appeal of watching other people work out before. But now, seeing Sam, she could sort of understand.

Her phone vibrated in her pocket. Emily ignored it. She fixed instead on her gym mate. Sam was so gentle, and yet so strong. She envisioned herself wrapped up in the other girl’s powerful arms, Sam running her fingers through Em’s fine hair, whispering in her ear how much she cared for her and what a good girl she was…

Emily felt her face flush. Christ, where were these thoughts _coming_ from?

“So what’s goin’ on?” Jessica appeared beside her. She had a devious twinkle in her eye.

Emily had been so caught up in her weird thoughts about Sam that she hadn’t even noticed her approaching. “Sam and I are gonna work out together,” she snipped.

“’Work out’, huh?” Jess clicked her tongue.

“Yeah. She _asked_ me.” Emily smirked triumphantly.

“You could work out with us too, Jess,” Sam offered. Emily had to resist the urge to snarl in dismay.

“Oh, I’d _love_ to.” Jessica dragged out the word ‘love’, making sure to smile widely in Emily’s direction. Emily fumed.

_Why am I even jealous, though?_ she tried to remind herself. _I’m not attracted to Sam…I’m not…_

* * *

 Josh had planned on sticking the muscular blonde girl and making her fall for the blonde with the braids – but Braids was turning out to be a hell-raiser all on her own. He watched with great interest as she teased and tormented both the muscular blonde and the dark-haired girl with her flirtatious ways.

It gave him an idea. Why stop at couples? He could go bigger than that.

He retrieved the container from his pocket once again, and readied a palmful.

* * *

 Find Friends said she was here. Ashley pulled into the parking lot of the ritzy gym and parked around the side. Why was she doing this? Why did she suddenly want to be with Emily so badly that she was now technically stalking her?

It wasn’t like these thoughts were new to her. God, she had a whole notebook full of self-insert stories where Emily, and sometimes Jessica too, toyed with her and put her in her place. But this was the first time she’d ever felt the urge to actually _act_ upon those sinful thoughts. She knew Emily would probably hit her if she ever confessed to these strange feelings. Sadly, that thought only excited her more.

She sat in her parked car for several long minutes before finally deciding to text Emily. _Hey Em,_ she tried, aiming to keep it simple.

The message was delivered, but not read.

Ash tapped her fingers on the steering wheel. _God, now if she reads that later she’s gonna be wondering what I wanted. She’ll probably think I’m trying to be creepy again like earlier. I better just add something else._ But now two minutes had gone by since her last message – would Em think she was annoying or weird? Did she already think those things? Would this just exacerbate and reinforce those thoughts?

_Just wanted to say thanks again for the study session._ She attempted to salvage herself by adding that as a second text. _Maybe tomorrow we can meet up again and I can help you with the writing stuff._

Delivered. Still not read. She must have been working out.

Ashley slumped in her seat. Why did Emily have to be working out when Ash wanted her attention?

* * *

 Sam hadn’t exactly expected a simple trip to the gym to turn out like this. One minute she was lifting weights. The next she had both Jess and Emily pinned against the wall in one of the gym’s fancy showers, kissing Emily’s throat while Jessica rubbed herself against Sam’s left thigh. The shower wasn’t on, and they were still fully clothed – anyone walking by would surely suspect something was going on. Thankfully the gym wasn’t all that crowded at the moment.

Jess and Emily were clearly both vying for Sam’s affection, but they seemed almost to be enjoying the bit of competition. It was almost like a game to them.

Sam drew back from Emily and moved to nibble at the nape of Jessica’s throat. Jess did her best not to squeal as she grinned at Emily. Emily folded her arms and scowled.

It didn’t take long for Jess to take Sam’s hand and guide it under her skimpy t-shirt. Sam felt her face warm as Jess batted her lashes and silently encouraged Sam to play with her hidden flesh.

Ever the mom friend, Sam felt a little guilty leaving Emily out. So she used her free hand to pull Em to her chest, and kissed her hair a few times.

“You know,” Jess whispered, “Em likes it when you tell her she’s a good girl.”

Sam smiled a little. “That so?”

Her face hidden in Sam’s chest, Emily made a tiny noise.

Sam lifted Em’s chin and kissed her on the forehead. “You _are_ a good girl, Em.”

Emily squeaked. “…Really?”

“The best.”

Jess seemed to be enjoying watching Emily get worked up. They had such a strange friendship.

Not that any of this was exactly normal…

“We should all go back to my place,” Jess suggested, her voice a husky whisper. “My parents won’t be home for hours.”

Sam hesitated. Was Jess…propositioning her? She couldn’t say she hadn’t thought about it before, but right now? And with Emily involved?

“Yeah. Yeah. Let’s do it.” Emily was just as enthusiastic as her best friend.

“Well, I guess I’m not one to turn down pretty ladies.” Sam laughed a little. Jess and Em both grinned.

* * *

  _Maybe I’ll go in there. Make it look like I’m thinking about signing up for a membership or something._

It would be a ridiculously flimsy excuse – _Ashley_ wanting to work out at a gym, surrounded by strangers watching her nerdy ass try to get in shape? Emily would see right through that bullshit.

By that point she was out of her car and pacing through the parking lot. She spotted a familiar red pickup truck at the far end of the lot. Mike’s truck. _Oh, great._ That must have been why Emily had raced off to the gym right after school. She probably wanted to see her precious Mike.

As she drew closer, she noticed the windows of his truck were fogged up. _Ugh, God, I bet he and Emily are in there right now…gross…_

She thought of Emily’s hot, ragged breath steaming up the front of the truck as her chest, surely bare, rose and fell rapidly, her exposed breasts quivering with each gasp. She thought of her moaning softly, her perfect, manicured nails sinking into the flesh of her lover, leaving those telltale red crescent-moon shapes…maybe even drawing a little blood…

Ash quietly approached the truck. She could see the body rocking slightly on its tires. Yes, someone – or more than one someone – was definitely inside.

She leaned over and peered in one of the foggy windows. Catching a glimpse through the fog, she gasped.

It wasn’t Mike and Emily. It was Mike…and Matt?

Ashley blinked. Matt was on his back across the seat with Mike on top of him. His arms were pinning Mike to his broad, bare chest, making Mike look tiny in comparison. Their mouths were locked together. They didn’t even seem to notice her.

Holy crap. This would make for one hell of a friendfic.

Ashley continued to stare in at the lusty boys, mentally describing the scene as she would write it in a story. What had spawned this sudden happening, she wondered? World-class womanizer Michael Munroe cheating on his gorgeous girlfriend with a guy?

Between the scene playing out before her eyes at present and her earlier less-than-saintly thoughts, Ashley knew she couldn’t possibly face Emily now. She had to go home. Had to think this all over. Had to–

She stopped herself before her brain conjured up any more things she might be tempted to do in the privacy of her home. Instead she hurried away from Mike’s truck, back to her own vehicle.

* * *

 Josh was highly amused. He hadn’t even had to shoot Blondie or Braids with love arrows. All it had taken was a sprinkle of Lust Dust and they all heading to Braids’ house…wink wonk.

Another scenario that was catching his interest was the ongoing tale of Red, his first victim. She’d run across his two male selections and then hurried back to her car for some reason. Josh decided to follow her. She drove at about a steady fifteen miles per hour, so it wasn’t difficult for him to fly after her even with his relatively small wings.

Red eventually pulled into the driveway of a small, quaint-looking house. She grabbed her backpack off the passenger seat and scurried to the house’s front door. With nothing better to do at the moment, Josh followed her inside.

“Mom?” Red called once she was inside the house. “Dad?”

No other human responded. Red sighed, seeming almost relieved. She dropped her backpack on a kitchen chair, unzipped it, and retrieved a notebook. Clutching it in her eager little hands she practically ran for her bedroom.

Josh watched as she threw herself onto her bed, fished a pen out of her nightstand drawer, and opened the notebook to a blank page. She started furiously scribbling…and scribbling. It wasn’t long before she’d filled an entire page with words.

As her right hand furiously penned her thoughts, her left hand began to dip suspiciously near to the waist of her shorts. Almost as if she were going to–

_Oh God, ew!_ Josh suppressed a shriek as he fled the room. It was his own fault for creeping on a horny teenage human in her own bedroom, but still – gross!

He decided to leave Red’s house altogether. There were plenty of other humans to toy with before tomorrow. Sneaking out the house’s back door, he was about to take flight once again when he noticed a young human across the street getting out of a car. He too carried a backpack, but unlike Red he was taking his time walking into the house. He played with some sort of fancy-looking white watch on his wrist, tapping and swiping at it. Nothing going on around him seemed to pull his attention away from it.

This could be interesting.

Josh strolled up behind the boy, as casual as could be. Then, with one fluid motion, he drew an arrow from his quiver and sank it right between the boy’s shoulders.

“Ow!” The boy jumped, immediately reaching for the impact site on his back. “What the hell, dude?!”

Josh stared at him, intrigued by his apparently quite theatrical responses.

“Um, excuse me?” Chris waved his hand in front of Josh’s face. “Why the hell did you just stab me?!”

Josh paled a little. “…You can see me?”

“Pretty fucking hard to miss a guy dressed up like Cupid stabbing me with arrows. Valentine’s Day’s not ‘til tomorrow, you know.” The boy paused. “Wait…is this gonna be one of those prank videos on YouTube? _‘STABBING PEOPLE AS CUPID PRANK!!!’_?”

Josh stood frozen before the human boy. He had no idea what to say. He’d never spoken to a human before.

The boy huffed. “Man, you’re lucky you’re cute, or I’d definitely press charges.”

Josh continued to stare. “Did you just call me cute?” he finally said.

“What? No. Why would I?”

“Dude, you did. You totally did.”

Josh hadn’t had a clue that some humans could see him, much less that his arrows could make them set their sights on _him_ as a target of their temporary infatuation. Yet clearly that was what was happening here.

“Well I don’t know why I said that, okay? I’m just having a weird day.” The boy glanced over to what was presumably his front door, just a few yards away, but he made no attempt to move toward it.

“Yeah? A weird day?” He was strangely curious of the human’s answer. He was so accustomed to having only his sisters to talk to. Talking to someone new–a guy, no less–was a novel and intriguing experience for Josh.

“None of it tops being stabbed with an arrow by a guy in a toga,” the boy replied, “but yeah. A weird day.”

“Wanna tell me about it?” Despite knowing full well that befriending a human was probably irresponsible, he simply couldn’t make himself pass up the opportunity. “I bet I could tell you some weird stories, too.”

The human looked to his front door again. “I really should just go,” he said, “I have a lot of homework, and, uh…”

Without any other options to keep the special human around, Josh utilized his last resort. His eyes rounded as his lips tugged into a slight frown.

“Are you…making puppy dog eyes at me?” the human asked.

Josh maintained the expression, fixing it intently on the boy.

After a few moments of subjection to the stare, the human finally sighed. “Oh my God, fine. We can talk on my patio for a while if you want. But I’m not letting you in my house – you’ll probably stab me again.”

Josh broke out in a grin.

The human led him around the back of his house. “I’m Chris, by the way,” the boy eventually said.

“I’m Josh.”

**Author's Note:**

> happy Valentine's Day ya nerds


End file.
